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Benjamin Chee Chee, First Nations Artist.
From his birth in 1944 to his suicide in 1977 Benjamin Chee Chee lived the life that many of us dream of but never achieve.It is said that all great artwork evokes either great happiness or a terrible sadness. The story of Benjamin Chee Chee, an Ojibwa artist who left his footprints deeply embedded in the history of the people of the First Nations, has both.
Born Kenneth Thomas Benjamin in Temagmi, Ontario, Chee Chee was a troubled youth. His father died when he was two months old, and in his mother’s quest to provide for herself and her young son she was forced to leave him with friends.
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Over time their bond would be severed completely, with her losing touch with him until the last months of his life. The repetitious theme of a mother with her young that was present in his later work has led many to speculate that the desire to be reunited with his own mother was a driving force in the ambition behind his artwork.
A Different Style
Chee Chee’s artistic style was very different from other aboriginal artists of the period.While men such as Norval Morrisseau and Carl Ray were building a reputation depicting the lore and legends of the people of the First Nations, Chee Chee adopted a minimalist style that closely mimicked the abstracts that would become popular after his death.
The simple, flowing lines and patterns set against a white background carried a tremendous impact, conveying intense emotion and focus in their simplicity and driving Benjamin Chee Chee to the top of his field.
With the speed that Benjamin Chee Chee’s star rose it is very easy for people to disregard the anger and frustration over his youth that would eventually lead the celebrity to take his own life. At a young age he found that alcohol would go a long way toward helping him to forget the pain and loneliness of his current situation. His addiction to the substance led him into frequent conflict with the police for negligible offenses, usually centered around being drunk and disorderly, and eventually caused him to be classified as a juvenile delinquent and sent to an industrial training school operated by the Christian Brothers.
During his time at Alfred his mother remarried. Chee Chee didn’t get along with his stepfather and soon became a drifter. It would be lawyer Frederick Brown who would pull Chee Chee’s life back together, introducing him to prominent Montreal artist Dorothy Wyatt and setting his feet on the path to fame. Dorothy guided him into the art world, and he often recognized her as “the person who had the greatest artistic influence on his life.”
While Dorothy guided him his artistic career took off like a rocket; however, he was never able to overcome the alcoholism or the inherent rage that would eventually consume him. In 1977, during what was only one of many stays in a penal institution in Ottawa, Benjamin Chee Chee hung himself in his cell, bringing his short life to an abrupt end and leaving many shaking their heads and asking themselves, “How could someone who had so much feel as though he was worth so little?”
